Meet Mark

Let me introduce myself. My name is Mark Sisson. I’m 63 years young. I live and work in Malibu, California. In a past life I was a professional marathoner and triathlete. Now my life goal is to help 100 million people get healthy. I started this blog in 2006 to empower people to take full responsibility for their own health and enjoyment of life by investigating, discussing, and critically rethinking everything we’ve assumed to be true about health and wellness...

Get Ready to Reset and Go Keto! Incredible Pre-Order Bonus Offer

As you probably already know, the ketogenic diet has become an extremely popular health trend as well as a personal passion of mine. Google data indicates that “keto” has now surpassed “paleo” as the most popular diet-related search term. Both mounting science and user experiences are validating keto as highly effective for reducing excess body fat quickly, improving cognitive function, minimizing disease risk factors, improving athletic performance, and promoting longevity. I sincerely believe that a ketogenic eating plan could represent the greatest breakthrough in the history of nutritional science—and the history of dieting (finally!)—to promote successful long-term fat loss and weight management.

Unfortunately, the booming popularity of keto has also made it the latest fad diet, replete with marketing hype, oversimplification, misinformation, and promoters misinterpreting the foundational science and proven strategies. Through my own personal keto journey and extensive consultation with the world’s most respected scientific experts, I’ve discovered that there’s a right way and a wrong way to go keto—and knowing the right way can make all the difference in the results you achieve.

I’ve been really focused on sustaining nutritional ketosis this year and monitoring my blood ketone and glucose levels in response to eating patterns. I’ve cranked out some meaty recent posts on the subject with the The Definitive Guide to Keto and Is Keto For Everyone?, among others.

Consequently, my writing partner, Brad Kearns, and I essentially dropped everything at the start of 2017 to do a total immersion into keto and quickly produce what we believe to be the first truly comprehensive book on the subject.

There are plenty of keto recipe books out there already, and a bunch of quick-fix keto blast offerings of the print and digital variety, but my new book, The Keto Reset Diet (that I first mentioned in the Definitive Guide to Keto post in June) delivers a complete presentation of all aspects of keto.

You’ll follow a thoughtful, proven approach that is flexible, highly customizable, effective, and intuitive instead of regimented. With The Keto Reset Diet, you’ll proceed at a sensible pace and never have to struggle, suffer, or backslide like so many ill-prepared and misinformed enthusiasts. I’m confident the book and your full embracing of a keto lifestyle will change your life!

Pre-Order Bonus Package of Digital Treasures!

With just a short time left before the book’s official release date of October 3rd, I’ve created an attractive bonus package to entice you to order the book and get started on your keto journey as soon as you finish reading this post. Just pre-order the book from your favorite retailer (online or physical store), then complete our simple online pre-order bonus form. You’ll be able to immediately download the following free gift items….

Exclusive Author Talk Show

I detail the scientific particulars of keto-adaptation, the complementary lifestyle elements necessary to succeed, the athletic performance benefits of keto, and the way you can conquer the challenge of fat reduction once and for all by going keto. My co-author, Brad Kearns, and I go deep and unplugged in this never-before-released hour-long discussion!

$10 Gift Certificate

Enjoy your shopping experience at PrimalBlueprint.com with a $10 Gift Certificate that you can use on ANY products (good for any purchase $20 or above). Check out the Primal Kitchen line of healthy salad dressings and mayonnaise—they’re 100% keto-approved and a delicious addition to many meals.

Primal Blueprint Healthy Sauces, Dressings, and Toppings eBook

Enjoy dozens of low-carb, grain-free preparations that can add variety and pizazz to your primal meat and veggie dishes. Learn about the primal-approved base ingredients, and then it’s off to the races to create your dips, rubs, dessert toppings, marinades, seasonings, salsa, pesto, flavored butter, tapenade, gravy, and much more!

The Keto Reset Diet Recipes eBook

A sneak preview of some of my favorite recipes in the book—conveniently formatted for printout and pasting on the fridge door. These delicious meals will help you realize how easy, fun, and satisfying going keto can be!

Why Consider Keto?

While enthusiasts are vigorously debating the best long-term keto strategy, or whether keto is even appropriate for certain individuals, we must acknowledge that fat- and keto-adapted was the default factory setting of our ancestors.

It’s likely that over the last 2.5 million years, most of our ancestors were in ketosis for a great portion of their lives. Consequently, we retain this hard-wired genetic predisposition to function with fat as our primary fuel source. Acknowledging this, Robb Wolf further speculates that going keto may deliver a reset effect at the genetic level, such that it can help you recover from leaky gut and autoimmune-related health conditions, metabolic damage caused by yo-yo dieting, and even exposure to environmental toxins.

There is no failure associated with keto. Any time spent pursuing keto improves metabolic flexibility and helps release you from the debilitating bonds of hunger, cravings, and frustration with reducing excess body fat.

While most primal enthusiasts have made the adjustments necessary to escape extreme carbohydrate dependency and wildly excessive insulin production, a great many poor souls still linger in the gray twilight that’s shy of being fully fat- and keto-adapted. (If you don’t know the epic Teddy Roosevelt quote I’m honoring, check it out). This perhaps results in falling a bit shy of reaching and maintaining ideal body composition long-term.

This is why I firmly believe that completing at least one complete Keto Reset journey (The initial 21-Day Metabolism Reset, fine-tuning with morning fasting, then six weeks of focused nutritional ketosis) is a bucket list item for every single one of us. Even if you decide over the long term to consume carbohydrates in a pattern that doesn’t promote nutritional ketosis, you’ll have developed an outstanding level of metabolic flexibility. This is the ability burn a variety of fuel sources, be free from dependency on regular meals, rarely be hungry or stressed about food, and be able to reduce excess body fat once and for all and not worry about it anymore—even if you take occasional departures from your typical ancestral-aligned eating patterns.

The Keto Campfire

A great way to understand how fat and ketones burn more cleanly than glucose is to use the analogy of a campfire.

A carbohydrate dependency diet is analagous to a crappy campfire built with twigs and wadded up newspaper. You produce a lot of smoke (free radicals caused by burning glucose without the protective effects of mitochondria) and have to constantly stoke the fire with quick and dirty-burning fuels (high-carbohydrate meals and snacks) to stay warm. In contrast, the keto campfire represents a state of fat- and keto-adaptation. You have taken the time to warm up your big logs (stored body fat and ketones) that will burn cleanly and for a long duration.

Speaking of building a proper campfire and becoming metabolically efficient, I want to give you some clarity on something that has recently become my pet peeve: confusing the metabolic state of ketosis (literally, accumulating ketones in the bloodstream faster than you are burning then) with being fat-and keto-adapted (adept at burning stored energy, and free from dependency on regular doses of dietary carbohydrates as your main energy source).

Details are in the book but for now, own this: Just because you’re making ketones doesn’t mean you’re adapted to burn them efficiently. Conversely, you may be producing a minimal amount of ketones (and delivering low blood values) but be highly fat- and keto-adapted so you’re able to reap the benefits of a low-carbohydrate eating pattern.

While the prevailing mindset in the keto community seems to be higher is better with blood readings, I’m feeling increasingly like good old-fashioned subjective evaluation is far more relevant than biometrics. Can you skip a meal and still function well physically and cognitively? Are your appetite, mood, and energy level stable all day long? These are the hallmarks of being a fat-burning beast. I’m preparing an entire follow-up post on these concepts, so stay tuned!

Let’s Go Keto!

I am hopeful that you’ll join me on this journey to fat- and keto-adaptation by ordering a copy of your book today and getting the killer bonus package. Of course I celebrate selling more books, but of deeper significance is the truth that a huge portion of the population is still adhering to conventional wisdom recommendations that we primal folks acknowledge to be harmful and unsupported by real science. This leaves many unknowingly trapped in carbohydrate dependency and lifelong insidious weight gain despite careful attention to diet and exercise.

For example, I recently encountered a bestselling author in the health and diet realm who had never heard of ketones! Yes, we are fighting a battle, and we need all hands on deck to spread the word. I want this revolution that started in 2006 at MarksDailyApple to continue to grow and impact more people, and keto represents the highest expression of the benefits of ancestral eating.

I imagine many of you might have a lot to say about keto already, and I look forward to checking out all of your comments from this post. Also, be sure to head over to Facebook and sign up for our burgeoning Keto Reset discussion group. Just submit a request to be added. We’ll keep the dialog going!

Monikat, thanks for your question. The Keto Reset Diet book itself has a color spread of a couple dozen of the 100 recipes. The Keto Reset Diet recipe ebook (one of the bonus items available with the pre-sale deal) has color photos for each item. And just so you know, my team will be creating more keto-focused recipes this fall. I’ll be unveiling a new keto resource center on MDA (including recipe log) around the time of the book release. So, fear not, and stay tuned!

Just pre-ordered it! I am excited to read Mark’s take on keto; I follow keto principles but haven’t actually counted every single vegetable carbohydrate or tested my ketones. I recently heard a podcast in which a keto expert said you can’t actually do ketosis correctly unless you are counting every macro, keeping a record of everything you eat, and testing ketones consistently. That doesn’t sound fun to me- it sounds stressful!

I am intrigued by Mark’s words, “You’ll follow a thoughtful, proven approach that is flexible, highly customizable, effective, and intuitive instead of regimented.” That sounds like the kind of plan I will appreciate and enjoy!

Just ordered my copy. I have taken a less involved approach to keto but am sure I go there many days. I tend to skip breakfast 2-3x a week and do not eat a ton of carbs except veggies and a little fruit. I will be curious to see Mark break this down more in the new book and look forward to how it can help me keep using my Primal Health Coach cert.

Mark your last few books have all been great and I still want to give a shout out to the Primal Connection (truly got so much out of that book, it is a gem)!

Cannot wait for this book! I’m keto most of the time…have never tested anything and don’t count my macros, but when I am following the principles I feel energized and focused like never before (and I’m a pretty high energy girl!) I’ve been reading about keto off and on for years, but know Mark will present it in a fair and balanced way.

Can’t wait to get this book, Mark! I’ve been keto for a few months now, but would love to see if this helps me to tweak my results to some degree. Also, I just received my certification in the PHC program, and I believe this will be a valuable tool to refer to while coaching any clients who are ready to begin their keto lifestyle!

Hey Mark! I am 46 yr. old, petite and strong. I have never ever in my life except after having my babies and nursing been able to shed any weight! I have been keto adapted and using intermittent fasting since the beginning of August 2017 and I have lost 14.8lbs as of yesterday! Yippe Skippee for me! I love ketosis!

I’m hoping you can be my motivation; I’m 45 and similar to how you described yourself. Unfortunately, I get into the almond, pistachios and dark chocolate in my cupboard and recently stopped purchasing medjool dates because they aren’t doing me any favors. I WANT to go keto, but can’t seem to want to long enough to stay away from healthy carbs.

“I’ve been really focused on sustaining nutritional ketosis this year and monitoring my blood ketone and glucose levels in response to eating patterns.” SO – how is ketosis working out for JImmy Moore??

I was waiting for your book!!! I am about to become a Primal Health Coach. I also have been keto for more than one and a half year already!!! I do a ketogenic diet because of my migraines and have been able to control my daily crises with keto. Also, I have been coaching several people to control their migraines either with primal or keto approaches, depending on the case and with 100 percent success!!! Thank you, Mark! I already know I will learn more with you! Ready to read it!!!

While this new book sounds good for me as I need to shed a few pounds that have sneaked up around my waist and midriff over the last 6 mod., it doesn’t sound good for my 85 yr old husband who needs to put on a few healthy pounds. We eat well (meat eggs some vegetables) probably too many sweets. What is the stand on keto for folks that need to gain weight?

I first experienced ketosis in the induction portion of the Atkins Diet many years ago. But, at that time, I went straight into the strict diet from an average, all-American SAD diet. I cracked after about 2 weeks, and went back to more carbs. Years later, I eased into it much more gradually – first eliminating sweets from my diet, then, months later, eliminating breads, and more months later, eliminating grains, then limiting fruits…The very gradual approach worked very differently, and gave far better results. Now, I am much more adapted to burning fat on a daily basis, and don’t suffer cravings for the carbs. I think people who can’t handle the changeover on a sudden basis should consider trying a gradual approach.

I did a gradual approach very similar to what you did with excellent results. That was several years ago. My weight remains normal and stable on 80/20 to 90/10 Paleo with daily dinner-to-lunch IF. This approach works extremely well for me as I don’t get cravings and I don’t get hungry or have any desire to snack between meals..

A ketogenic diet is definitely a good way to lose weight but shouldn’t be undertaken without professional guidance if one has any kind of medical issue. It’s a very strict, limiting way to eat, and therefore not suitable–or even necessary–for everyone. Maybe Mark covers these things in his book. At any rate, the book will be a good guideline for those who want to try a keto diet. Instead of going by guesswork, I recommend using the keto stix, at least until one gets the diet down pat. If the urine doesn’t produce a dark enough color, then there is no ketosis and the diet will need adjusting..

I was sitting tight for your book!!! I am going to wind up plainly a Primal Health Coach. I additionally have been keto for more than one and a half year as of now!!! I do a ketogenic consume less calories on account of my headaches and have possessed the capacity to control my day by day emergencies with keto. Likewise, I have been training a few people to control their headaches either with primal or keto approaches, contingent upon the case and with 100 percent achievement!!! Much thanks to you, Mark! I definitely know I will take in more with you! Prepared to peruse it!!!

Fat adaptation is probably the single most advantageous way to reduce body fat, lose weight, preserve lean body mass and increase longevity. By metabolically training our bodies to use our ancestral tendencies to live off of stored body fat and use mitochondrial biogenesis for energy we can learn to live a life of intermittent fasting, feel satiated for longer periods of time, and have the metabolic option of running off of glucose, fat and ketones.

It’s true that so many different methods of keto have flooded the market and made the decision to “go keto” a rather confusing one, even to the point of making it a full time lifestyle when it should mainly only be approached as a gateway to improved health and lifestyle. There are several pitfalls with regard to ketogenic dieting out there that need to be known.

Like Mark, I too have tested glucose and ketone levels several times through-out the day for a month to understand how our bodies react to foods and exercise. Being a competitive Crossfiter, I have also felt the effects and benefits of being fat adapted in a sport that is highly regarded as glycolytic in nature. Our bodies can always find a way to produce sufficient glucose if necessary. No such thing as an essential carb, right? But, by being fat adapted, having the right mechanisms to run off of ketones (specifically BHB), and ample mitochondria to keep the process going, we can still perform at high levels even in the absence of dietary glucose.

Is your wife sure she was actually in ketosis? People often assume they are but really aren’t. A ketogenic diet is very restrictive with zero room for cheating. Usually the weight literally falls away very rapidly while on a keto diet, but,her body may not respond to keto for whatever reason. A Paleo diet is a less extreme, arguably healthier approach and should eventually get rid of that extra 15 pounds, even if it takes a little longer.

I first tried ketosis a couple of years ago, and found that although I could skip meals to make a 24hr fast without any hunger, I would crave tasty / salty flavours even if I had a meal or 2 consisting of salted bone broth and plenty of water. I would wake up with this craving and be unable to get back to sleep, hence my weight loss has fallen by the wayside as I don’t like feeling like this. I ve read Phinney and Volek and take magnesium citrate and add himalayan salt to my foods but couldn’t bare the metallic taste in my mouth and the waking with a headache – any ideas, I am totally primal!

Hi Mark, will you cover following Keto without a Gall Bladder? I had mine removed about 10 years ago and whilst following Low Carb Paleo/Primal is easy for me, Keto was definitely not! I’m currently in Ketosis, but it was/is quite difficult to get here. I have to take a Digestive Enzyme supplement with every meal.

I can’t wait to read this book, especially the part about ketone readings. When I am being a keto saint, my blood ketones are through the roof (always over 3.0) and my blood sugar gets gratifyingly low when ketones are high but, alas, no weight loss. I’m not sure I can wait until October!

I’ve been on a ketogenic diet for about six months now and I feel the best I have in years. I usually eat twice a day(lunch and dinner), and I never eat breakfast. I don’t count my macros every day but I’m usually anywhere between 60-80% fat, 20-40% protein, and 0-5% carbs. I routinely do intense workouts fasted, both aerobic and anaerobic and feel great. My body fat is in the single digits and at 40 years old, I’m in the best shape of my life. Yeah, I love the keto diet.

Your book looks AMAZING Mark! I have a question if I may – do you believe that the Keto diet can prevent degeneration of skeletal and connective cartilage tissue and even have any capability to reverse the effects? I do believe it can decrease inflammation, thought I would also ask if you think it can help degeneration?

Also – living in sunny Queensland of Australia, any tips on the best way to pre-order?

I have been trying to become fat adapted for several months now by rigorously doing the following
1) intermittent fasting 14-16 hours per day
2) macro proportions of 75% healthy fats 20% protein and 5% net carbs
3) steady state aerobic exercise ( keeping My heart rate between 120 and 130 for periods of 25 to 30 minutes)
4) using and exogenous ketone drink during the end of my fast and before training

I urine test for ketones using the test strips several times a day and I see no change
Any advice? Because I’m getting really frustrated